Gred and Forge: Tales of the Twins
by Madam-Merra
Summary: Fred and George through the years. Each chapter is a different year of their lives as best friends/brothers/twins.
1. Prologue

21 - Prologue

An orange Spring sun peeked over a rooftop on Diagon Alley, sending fragmented rays over the quiet, cobblestone street. Sunlight highlighted windows displaying the latest in dress robes, broomsticks, but mostly, closed signs. At seven in the morning, most shopkeepers were still in their beds, eager to catch as many winks of sleep as they possibly could. Not that a Thursday morning was ever busy, in fact Thursday was the day that most shopkeepers walked into their shops right at opening time. Except one.

As the sun raised a little higher in the sky, a ray of sun hit an equally orange target. The target was the back of Mr. George Weasley's head. George was standing, back to sun, face to door, in front of his own shop, as was now customary whenever he arrived for work. It had been ten months since his best friend, business partner, and twin had died, but his hand still trembled slightly as he traced the three W's on the door, the logo of 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes'. Yet his eyes were dry, too many tears had been shed in this exact spot for his liking. This was his new morning ritual, get up, apparate in front of the door, wait for the sun to rise staring at the door, trace the three W's, and then after a moment, unlock the door and begin the day. When Fred had been alive, they would unlock from the inside since their flat was just above the shop, but after the war which had taken his life, George hadn't even tried to go upstairs, for fear of what unfinished sandwich or undone laundry would be sitting there as Fred's last imprint on their home.

Whatever it was, he did truly hope it wasn't the sandwich, the mould would make his mother cry harder then knowing it had been Fred's. George chuckled in spite of himself at the thought of this.

No, George had spent the last ten months drifting between the Burrow, Lee Jordan's, and as of late, Angelina Johnson's. But he had never stopped coming to work, his business, _their_ business, was not going to suffer on his account. Business had still been steady, although not many new products made it onto the shelves. It had been hard for George to find inspiration lately, so he focused on selling what he had, keeping it fresh, and trying to hold himself together every step of the way.

George slid the small gold key into it's lock and took a step inside he and Fred's heaven of mayhem. Sunlight was coming through the front window, lighting up a few of the products, and George immediately got done to work, restocking some fake wands that had been selling well the past few days, cleaning up the Muggle tricks section of the store, which always seemed to collect dust, and feeding the Pygmy puffs. Brushing off his hands and giving a half-smile to the squeaking little balls of fluff, he took a glance at the clock on the wall. Not quite eight. George could almost hear Fred in his head, telling him off for coming in, knowing he wouldn't open until at least nine o'clock just because he could. But he needed to, this was his routine, and routine kept him stable, and today, he needed stable.

_Especially today_, thought George, taking a glance towards the door at the back of the shop. Taking a sigh and running his hand through his ginger hair, he took such long strides that his nose was, for the second time that morning, pressed against a door. He reached out a sweaty, shaky palm grabbed at the handle, and slowly opened the door.

Twenty steps, that's all it would take him. He had walked up and down this staircase thousands of times, but now, they were about to become the hardest steps to take in his life, and that included Fred's funeral. There, he had his mother holding fast to his right arm, and Lee Jordan on his left, with a supportive arm around his shoulders holding him up. Between the three of them, they had been able to cry into each other's shoulders during McGonagall's eulogy, laugh together at the stories Charlie told about Fred as a kid, and when it had come to say their final goodbye to Fred, they had clung to each other with every step towards his casket before it had been lowered into the ground.

Here, it was only George Gideon Weasley. Taking a deep breathe to steady himself, he began his ascent up the staircase towards their flat.

* * *

_Hope you like this little prelude! Every chapter following this will be one chapter for each of the twins years together which will eventually lead back here._

_Let me know what you think!_

_~ M. Merra_


	2. Just How She Liked It

May 3rd, 1979

1 – Just How She Liked It

Since April 1st, 1978, the early mornings of life at the Burrow had come to be known as 'the calm before the twins'. When it came to sleep they would only cry once or twice in the night, and were able to turn out like a light. However, once awake, the tables turned.

After a year with them, not much had changed.

Molly Weasley opened her bleary eyes and rolled over to see her husband Arthur drooling onto his pillow. Since the twins were so easy in the night, they each took the nights in shifts and last night had been Arthur, so as Molly carefully got out of bed to start breakfast for the six boys in her life, Arthur and her children, she made an attempt to tip-toe as quietly as possible out the door, casting the sleeping Mr. Weasley a smile over her shoulder as she made her way down the stairs.

Almost immediately, the reality of having five children struck her as she stepped onto the stairs.

"MOM! THE GNOMES BIT CHARLIE, WHERE'S THE POTION FOR BITES?" Bill called from the kitchen,

"Momma, Momma look! A Gnome bit me! Do you think I should draw it out?" Charlie had run up the chairs excitedly from downstairs to show his mother his battle scar, which he was incredibly proud of,

"MOTHER!" Percy was yelling from one of the bedrooms. As Molly made her way down the stairs she answered all of her boys,

"BILL, I MOVED THE POTION INTO THE TOP CUPBOARD OF THE KITCHEN, I'LL GET IT FOR YOU, DO NOT CLIMB ON THE COUNTERS! Charlie, dear, go wash that quickly so it doesn't get infected, then you can go draw it, but really dear, don't you think you have enough sketches of Gnome bites? WHAT PERCY?"

Having finally made it to the kitchen, she quickly grabbed her eight-year-old off the counter ("Do you always have to do the opposite of what I tell you Billy?") administered the potion on Charlie's finger ("Here's a kiss to seal it." "Mo-om!") and cracked a few eggs into a large bowl to start the eggs. As she was putting the eggs into a pan, her little Percy had caught up with her, pulling on her apron.

"Mother, di'n't you hear me? Ith an emergenthee!" If a book so much as moved an inch off it's allotted place, it was considered an emergency in Percy's mind.

"I'm sure it is Percy, let me just get the eggs onto plates, alright?"

"But Mo-"

"One second dear,"

"Really it's-"

"Charlie set the table please."

"FRED AND GEORGE ARE MITHING!" Percy roared, well, roared as loud as a two-year-old could. Molly was immediately in Mother-Overload,

"Bill, get your father, Charlie, check the yard, and Percy watch the eggs." Percy smiled widely; any job was good for Percy.

Molly climbed the stairs two at a time to the twin's room, where they shared a crib since they couldn't afford a second one. She saw that their crib was empty with no signs of anyone taking them.

"Boys? Freddie, Georgie?" She called, slightly shakily. The twins were always trouble when they were awake, if she had a Sickle for every time they had gotten out of their cribs she would have been a wealthy woman. This time however, there were no traces of them, and they never left their room, they could only crawl and on the occasional day stand for about six seconds.

Thoughts of their Uncles they were named for, her brothers, flitted through her mind against her will. Fabian and Gideon had been found dead in the street having gone out fighting. Gideon's eyes had been wide open, fear-stricken, and Fabian bleeding from his arm with an identical look of terror. _Not now_, thought Molly, _Death Eaters have _not_ broken into your home and taken your baby boys._ She poked around their room a bit more leading with her wand, looking for a trace of one of the twins.

That's when she saw Bill's toy broom on the floor behind Fred's crib.

"WILLIAM WEASLEY!" She bellowed, shaking the house. With a look of purest terror on his face, Bill came up the stairs and turned into the twin's room. Looking between his mother, steam pouring from her ears, and the toy broom in her hand, he put two and two together and instantly started pleading,

"They liked playing with the twigs on the end, I just thought they'd enjoy it! I must have forgotten to take it back before Charlie and I went de-gnoming…" He trailed off as his mother glared daggers at him,

"You let your brothers, who turned one _last month_ play with your toy broomstick? Fully knowing that they have taken a liking to escaping their crib?" Bill gulped,

"One could say that."

"Jus wait until your father hears this! Just wait! ARTHUR! Bill where's your father?" Storming onto the stairs searching for her husband.

"How should I know?" He asked as he followed her out.

"I told you to wake your father! Why Bill do you always do the opposite of what I ask? ARTHUR?" She called upstairs towards her and Arthur's room.

"Molly! Come here, oh you really must see this!" Arthur laughed from their room,

"This is not the time to see one of your music tapes of 'The Insects', the twins are-"

"The twins are fine, they're right here. And it's 'The Beatles'-" But he was cut off as Mrs. Weasley and Bill crashed into Arthur and Molly's bedroom. The sight that greeted them made them sigh, Molly forgetting that just moments ago she had been threatening Bill with what probably would have been the worst spanking in the history of the Weasley's.

The twins had somehow gotten up the stairs into their parents room, into their mother's make-up, and had smeared make-up all over each other. Fred was still applying blue eye shadow to George's arm, and George had already smeared mascara on his stomach. It seemed they had gotten make-up everywhere on them _except _their faces. Arthur had apparently woken up as they had entered and simply watched from the comfort of his bed, where Molly joined him watching their boys. Bill left to tell Charlie and Percy that the twins were found and were in the process of making themselves into models.

"Oh Arthur…" Molly whispered, still watching as Fred and George looked at each other with big eyes.

"They're really something aren't they?" Arthur looked at his sons, "I wish there was some way to remember this… wait!" He leant over to his bedside table and fished out a black square with a few buttons, "I got it from work, I think I've figured it out. It's a Muggle camera! The people don't move, but" Molly cut him off with a kiss,

"Take a picture Arthur, even if it is a Muggle camera." Arthur grinned and positioned himself closer to the twins, who looked up at their father with huge question marks in their eyes at the camera. As it flashed, their faces split into grins and they slowly, grabbing onto each other and the dresser behind them, hoisted themselves up and teetered for a second before, at the same time, they lifted up their left feet and took a step forward.

"Arthur, ARTHUR!" Molly squealed, "They're walking! Take another picture! Take twenty!" Arthur didn't have to be told twice, his smile flashing as much as the camera. He took picture after picture as Fred and George reached their hands up, trying to grab the light of the camera while taking slow steps towards the bed their mom and dad were beaming at them from.

Bill, Charlie, and Percy stopped just inside the door, looking at the scene in front of them. From the door, they took a great leap onto the bed to watch their little brothers walking towards them. The twins were excited to see all of their favourite people on one bed and tried to walk faster.

As they neared the bed, Arthur still snapping pictures, Molly and Bill went to catch them before they jus walked straight into it. As they caught them, Molly, Bill, and Arthur's eyes were only for Fred and George, Charlie's eyes were on the bird outside the window, which left Percy to be the one to discover…

"Mother, why are their sthepths red?" Molly looked round at Percy who was looking at the carpet.

"Sthepths? What are- Oh steps!" Molly realized, "What do you mean-" She followed Percy's eyes too the white carpet, where Fred and George's feet were still imprinted in bright red on the carpet.

"Arthur, is that…" Scared of what she might find, she looked down at the smiling George in her lap and looked at the bottom of his feet. They were stained bright red, and as she drew her finger across them and took a closer look at it, all eyes on her, her face suddenly broke into a smile,

"It's my lipstick." They all sighed, glad to see she found it funny, "They put lipstick on their feet!" They all started laughing, even Percy, and the twins looked at each other and decided that laughing was good, so they gave identical little baby laughs, causing Molly to cling to George in her lap, and look at her little Fred in Bill's lap. Bill was playing with Fred's little fingers, and Fred was trying to pull on Charlie's hair with his other hand. Percy had taken over taking pictures, and Arthur had come in behind Molly to wrap his arms around her.

All of her boys were safe, sound, and happy. Just how she liked it.

* * *

_Hope you all enjoyed baby twins! (Have to admit, writing for the toddler Weasley boys was incredibly fun!)  
Reviews are wonderful, and I would love to know what you think! _

_~ M. Merra_


	3. My Brother the Potato

May 17th, 1980

2 - My Brother the Potato

March 1st 1980 had brought an unpleasant surprise to the twins lives. Ronald Weasley had been brought into the world with the familiar red hair already on his head clearly stating him as 'The Newest Weasley.' He was an average baby, cried a lot, required constant attention, and was cute all while doing it. When he woke the house with his crying he was cuddled by their parents, when people were over they always wanted to see him ("Oh how darling Molly! Arthur he has your eyes!"), and the twins hated him for it.

Two months after his birth, the twins had been made to accept his presence in their room while Molly and Arthur figured out where to add another room to their slowly growing home. The little bundle of Ron slept in a cradle, which took up a decent amount of room, and gifts from his baby shower filled even more of the room up, meaning that the twins little legs had to maneuver around diapers and toys that weren't even theirs. In their own room! Sometimes at night, they would take to just grumbling to each other about the unfairness of it all, watching the little red headed menace sleep, until of course, he began to cry, which would bring one of their parents into their room to comfort Ron, which would lead to them getting in trouble for not being asleep.

What really ticked the twins off though, the thing that really made them upset, was how they could no longer get attention for more then a few minutes. Just the other day, George had been bitten by a gnome while they were playing in the garden and before Molly could get the potion on his finger, Ron had started to cry, taking her precious focus. Thankfully, Charlie had been in the kitchen at the same time, gave George a knowing look, and had put some potion on his finger.

"I don't like it George." Little Fred whispered to his twin from his bed. "I don't like it at all."

"Why though? He's not even that in-ter-es-ting." George sounded out the word carefully, just to get his point across.

"We just need to do something, something," Fred searched for the word big enough to describe it, "BIG!" He shouted, quickly clapping his hands over his mouth and checking to see if they had woken Ron, who was still snoring lightly.

"But how?" George whispered, "And what?" Fred looked around the room, at all of the overpiling stuff.

"George, I gots it."

* * *

As birds began to wake up, tweeting their song to every resident of Ottery St. Catchpole, six of the eight Weasley's began to stir. Molly threw on her robe and made her way down the stairs to the youngest Weasley's crib in the twins room.

"Hello baby boy, hello." She cooed at Ron, who looked up at her sleepily, the sun in his eyes making him wince a bit. She picked him up and out, rubbing his back and cast a glance around the room.

"Oh dear. Where are your bitty-brothers Ronnie?" Although she was talking to her son in a baby voice, he seriously did wonder where the two most troublesome two-year olds were. Walking around to their beds, avoiding the mess piled around the floor, holding Ron carefully in her arms.

_Not here_, she thought, _they can't be far_. It was then she heard voices from outside the window, drifting in from the garden.

"Fred, look, look! I see one, wake up!"

"Oh good! Now, grab the net!" A slight scuffle ensued, and Molly glanced out the window. Roling her eyes at the sight, she turned her back to the window and went to her eldest son Bill's room.

"Whatshappenin'?" Was the groggy response as she shook him lightly on the shoulder, Ron in her other arm.

"Fred and George are outside. I think you should go talk to them." Giving Bill a knowing look. It took him a few seconds to understand what she was saying, he gave a great sigh, throwing his blanket off and putting his slippers on to go outside.

"You think they could have waited a few hours before needing 'the talk'." He grumbled as he made his way past his mother, "Can you get Charlie to come down in a few minutes too?"

"Of course dear, whatever helps." Molly smiled at her son, watching him make his way down the stairs and out the door.

As Bill approached the twins in the garden, he took in the scene unfolding in the early morning sun. Fred and George were sitting in the middle of the garden, back to back, Fred holding a net, George holding a ball of orange yarn and a can of worms. They were absolutely silent, eyes scanning the yard looking for something.

"Toss ano'er worm George." George tossed a worm towards a geranium bush, which did nothing. Laughing, Bill came closer to his younger brothers, breaking their fierce concentration when he spoke.

"Hunting are you?" The twins looked at Bill, at each other, back to Bill, and quickly tried to hide the net, wool, and cans into a nearby bush.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'm just here to talk." The twins looked at Bill warily. Seeing as they weren't giving him much, Bill continued, "Is this about Ron?" The look in the twins eyes told him it _definitely_ was.

"Ah. I know what's happening here. Kind of. Care to explain all of that?" He pointed at the bush decked in wool with a net sticking out the side of it.

"Well," George started looking at his feet, "Ron's kind of… I dunno…"

"Stupid." Fred jumped in. "We're going to trade him." Bill laughed.

"Trade him? With what?" He looked around again, "Oh, I get it. You're trading him with one of the Gnomes aren't you?" Fred and George nodded. "Then what's the yarn for?"

"So he'll be a Weasley, get it? It's completely fair. We'll trade him with a Gnome, send him into a hole, and we'll bring a Gnome into the house with orange hair, see?" Fred held up a piece of yarn from the bush, "Mom won't care about him as much cause he'll be a potato-man with orange hair, we'll get our room back, and we'll have a Gnome for a brother!" The twins grinned wide at Bill, but after a second they faded.

"Bill, why don't Mum and Dad love us still?" George asked, Bill sat down on the dirt, looking at his brother's face.

"They definitely still love you, there's just a baby in the house. Your new brother needs more attention because he's a baby, he can't take care of himself." Fred snorted,

"Then he should learn, they were our parent's first, not his!" George nodded agreeing with Fred, Bill, however shook his head.

"Actually guys, I do believe they were my parents first." Fred and George turned to Bill, a strange mix of confusion and awe on their faces.

"What're you guys thinking?" He asked after a few seconds of silence.

"If they were your parents first-" Fred started,

"-Why didn't you get rid of Charlie?" George finished. Bill laughed again, this was well worth the early start to the day.

"Well, funny you should say that." He lent down to the twins, whispering "I tried" The twins gasped,

"You tried to get rid of Charlie?" They whispered back in unison, "But Charlie's our brother!"

"Exactly. And what's Ron?" The twins looked at each other then back to Bill with young, sheepish faces.

"Our brother." They mumbled.

"Exactly. So now you know why I didn't end up 'getting rid' of Charlie. Or why Charlie didn't go through with putting Percy in a basket and sending him to live in the Muggle world, or why Percy didn't actually Floo the two of you to Gringott's." The twins eyes were huge, but stayed silent. "The Weasley brother's stick together, and Ron is one of us. It's totally natural for us to fight and be jealous of each other, I hear it comes from the red hair." The twins giggled at this.

"So you're not mad at us?" Fred looked into Bill's eyes.

"No, not in the least. Ron won't be either." Bill ruffled his brother's hair.

"Oi! What's on the agenda?" Called Charlie, walking up to the three of them, "Mom told me it was time for 'The New Weasley talk', or have I missed it?"

"Just did, however, you're the best de-Gnomer in the Burrow, how about you show these munchkins how to really catch a Gnome?" Charlie grinned at the twins.

"Think you two want to learn from the master?"

"YES! YES! YES! YES!" The twins yelled up at their brothers.

So the rest of that morning was spent watching Bill and Charlie throw Gnomes over the hedge, Fred and George luring them out and even 'helping' their brothers toss a few over. The Weasley boys would have many fights in the future, and face many things worse then a new sibling, but for now, they would focus on ridding Gnomes from the garden and scheming against each other as only the best of brothers can.

* * *

_I always figured the 'new sibling syndrome' that happens with kids would be a whole different level in the Weasley house. Something about having a billion kids._

_Anyways, hope you enjoyed! New chapter arriving soon!_

_~ M. Merra_


	4. Sister

August 11th, 1981

3 - Sister

"Boys! Fred, George, Ron? We're home!" Arthur Weasley was all smiles as he re-entered his house after almost ten hours with Molly in labour. Percy was bringing in the overnight bag that had been sitting at the door for the past two weeks, Charlie was helping his exhausted mother inside the house, and Bill was holding the reason for all the chaos of the last 24 hours.

Ginevra Molly Weasley.

"WHERE IS HE?"

"I WANT TO SEE HIM!"

"AHHH!"

The cries of Fred. George, and Ron, respectively reverberated off the walls as the twins flew around the corner from the sitting room, and Ron tottered a bit slower down the hall after them. An older woman, with red-rimmed eyes and a sour expression also entered the hall.

"Muriel, thank you again for watching the boys at such late notice." Arthur turned towards Aunt Muriel, his smile still not fading.

"This better be the last one Arthur, an old lady can't continually watch young children like this. I'll have you remember that I am 91 years old." Arthur was quick to show Muriel out the door before turning back to his family.

"Now, who wants to hold Ginevra first?" The boys looked puzzled.

"Ginevra? What kind of name is that?" Fred asked, George was observing his sister in Bill's arms.

"Well boys, Ginevra is a girl's name." Arthur smiled.

"Why would you give him a girls name? Won't he get teased?" George asked.

"_She's_ a girl George, and if you're going to look at her so closely, you have to be quiet, she's sleeping." Bill whispered. George nodded, still staring at his sister.

"Can I hold?" Ron was reaching up at her from the ground at Bill's feet. Bill smiled, and after getting an okay from Arthur, they retreated to the living room to sit down and pass around their sister after Bill showed them how to properly hold her.

"Look, look! She likes me best!" Ron was holding her with assistance from Bill, and after all the passing around, she had opened her eyes and grabbed Ron's finger. "You like me best don't you Gin-r-y?" Bill laughed at that.

"Ginry? Almost a nickname." His sister looked up at him when he laughed. The twins just stared at her. She seemed a lot smaller then Ron had been. It was probably something about being a girl no doubt.

"Ginny." They said in unison. "You are now Ginny." Little Ginny were looking at the twins with large eyes, darting between the two back and forth as fast as she could, trying to figure out if she was seeing double.

"Ginny eh? I think that could catch on." Bill said, picking up his sister and bringing her to his mother, who had made her way into the sitting room and onto the couch. The twins and Ron kept staring at their little sister as Molly Weasley took her in her arms, smiling down at her.

* * *

That night, during a brief few hours of silence, Fred and George made their way out of their room and down to the crib that had been set up in the new room for baby Ginny. Looking in on her crib, they were both struck once again with how tiny she really was.

"Hey Ginny." George spoke up quietly, not wanting to wake her, "I'm George, you're new favourite brother."

"George's overrated," Fred chimed in, just as quiet, "I'm your real favourite, but don't worry, it can be our secret."

"I promise Ginny, no one's going to get you. We're going to protect you forever." George continued where he left off, Fred nodded beside him. "Mom and Dad say we have to be careful to always be in there sight because there's a bad man outside right now, but I promise, we're going to look after you, alright?"

"We'll learn tons of magic, and we'll teach you everything we know." Fred whispered, getting her closer to the bars of her crib.

"Got that Ginny? You're really little, and Fred and I are getting pretty big, so it makes sense if we watch over you okay? No bad Lord Foldenort is going to get you."

"We promise." They whispered in unison, their faces as close to the bars as they could, looking at their tiny sister, who they were determined to protect from anything bad in the world.

From the bedroom door, Bill Weasley, who had heard the footsteps enter the room, leaned on the doorframe and watched over his brothers looking in on Ginny's crib, with a hint of a smile on his face.

* * *

_Yes, this one's mighty short, but I didn't want to overcomplicate anything in what I think is just a few special, particular moments. I always imagine the presence of a baby girl in the house would spark these kind of feelings for the twins, and I think there's a reason Ginny takes after them!_

_Also - Now that they're all born, we can focus on other things!_

_Always my love,_

_~ M. Merra _


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